Decimal Point Causes No Small Problem

BOCA RATON — A misplaced decimal point may send Boca Raton voters back to the polls or force them to pay 10 times as much as they expected for a beach and park improvement project.

City Manager James Rutherford described the error as an ''honest, human mistake.''

''The decimal point was just put in the wrong place,'' Rutherford said Wednesday.

City officials erred when they calculated the cost to taxpayers of $6 million worth of bond issues. The bond issues, approved March 11 in a referendum, would pay for a North Beach renourishment project and the expansion of Spanish River Park.

In public ads and information given to the media, the city said a homeowner, whose property was assessed at $100,000, minus the $25,000 homestead exemption, would pay $1.57 during the first year for two bond issues. In reality, homeowners would pay $15.70 per $100,000 of assessed value, Rutherford said.

A bond validation hearing was delayed Wednesday to allow city officials to discuss the problem.

City council member Al Travasos ''stumbled across'' the misplaced decimal point May 1 and told city officials.